Claw-hammer.



G. W. BENTON.

CLAW HAMMER.

APPLICATION FILED 056.27. 1913.

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

GEORGE V7. BENTON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

CLAW-HAMMER.

Application filed December 27, 1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BENTON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Claw-Hammers; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to hammers and has for an object to provide ahammer of the high nailing type with improved means for holding aplurality of sizes of nails at the proper angle for such high nailing.

In hammers heretofore provided with the high nailing feature, provisionis made for accommodating only a single size of nail or nails ofrelative sizes at the proper angle, while nails of larger or smallersizes are held at the improper angle for such high nailing.

In the present invention, a claw hammer is employed of the usual andordinary type having the claws describing an angle relative to eachother, and ribs are provided along the socket of the hammer for holdingnails in diiferent positions to correspond to the sizes and lengths ofthe nails.

With these and other objects in view the invention comprises certainnovel constructions, combinations and arrangement of parts as will behereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a view of a hammer in side elevationshowing three nails held in position for such high nailing. Fig. 2 is asectional view of the hammer taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views.

The improved hammer which forms the subject matter of this application,comprises a driving head 10, claws 11, and socket 12, all ofsubstantially the usual and ordinary type and to head is applied ahandle 13 as is customary. Along the side of the shank 12 adjacent theclaws, a plurality of ribs or ridges 1 1, 15 and 16 are provided, suchribs being here shown as three in number, it being understood howeverthat the number of the ribs is immaterial to the present in vention.

As is well known, the claws 11 converge Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

Serial No. 809,017.

toward the hammer head so that the small nail as shown at 17 is receivedadjacent the angle between such claws. For such small nail, as forinstance a finishing nail, a rib is provided near the angle of the clawswith the socket, such rib being illustrated as 16. For nails of largersizes, a rib 15 is employed below the rib 16, with the head of such nailas 18 bearing upon such rib; while for still larger nails, as 19, astill lower rib let is employed. In other words, a plurality of ribs arespaced throughout the length of the front face of the socket, the numberof ribs depending exclusively upon the length of the socket 12 and thelength of the claws 11 and may be varied according to the size of thehammer and the size of the nails with which the hammer is to beemployed. These ribs divide the face of the socket into a number ofseats each of a size slightly larger than the diameter of the nail headwhich is to rest against it when the shank of that nail binds betweenthe adjacent faces of the claws as shown. Said claws converge on suchlines that they bind said shank, whatever its size, just at a time whenthe head rests squarely on the corresponding seat. The width of eachseat is the same as that of the face of the socketits height is thedistance between two ribs, and the latter are spaced as shown in orderto allow the nail head to be drawn freely out of place after the nailhas been driven and the hammer head is turned slightly to disengage theshank of the nail from the claws. In putting a nail into place, itsshank is passed between the claws until it bites or binds therein, andthen the nail is pressed toward the socket until its head passes betweentwo of the ribs and rests against its proper seat which is in suchposition that the nail then stands substantially at right angles to thesocket and ready for high driving.

It is, of course, intended to employ only one nail at a time in theclaws and the three nails as shown at Fig. 1 are never employed at thesame time but either may be employed as occasion may make necessary ordesirable.

I claim:

1. A hammer head embodying a socket, curved claws projecting therefromand having their inner faces converging toward the socket, and ribs onthe face of the socket producing interposed seats decreasing in sizetoward said claws, the seats proportioned and disposed to receive theheads of nails Whose shanks are clamped between the claws at pointsopposite said seats respectively.

2. A hammer head embodying a socket, curved claws projecting therefromand having their inner faces converging toward the socket, and a seriesof ribs across the face of the socket spaced from each other byincreasing distances as they recede from said claws, whereby difierentsized seats are Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

formed on the socket between the ribs, each seat being of such heightthat it loosely receives the head of a nail whose shank is of 15 GEORGEW. BENTON. Witnesses L. L. MORRILL, JOHN L. FLETCHER.

Washington, I). G.

